Burgundy Gahman's late third-quarter goal broke a 1-1 tie and propelled the Upper Perk field hockey team to a 4-1 victory over Bishop Shanahan in a District 1 2A playoff game at Bill Keeny Stadium on Tuesday night.

Burgandy Gahman lifts the ball over the Bishop Shanahan goalie to score a goal in the third quarter of play in the  District 1-2A playoff game on Tuesday night.

            Gahman's goal came just under four minutes after Shanahan had tied the Tribe. The ninth grader lifted a shot over Shanahan netminder Anna Ruhno on a set play off a corner for a 2-1 lead.

            "I was just on the post and I was there to tip it. I lifted it over the goalies' stick," Gahman recounted. Morgan O'Hara supplied the assist.

            Upper Perk head coach Meghan Griffin was pleased but not surprised by Gahman's performance in her first District game. "Burgundy continues to amaze me every single game. She just continues to get better and better.

            "She's playing at a caliber that is way beyond a freshman and she's been very impressive."

            Upper Perk (15-4) had grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second quarter on a brilliant individual effort by Jade Traynor who got behind the Eagles defense down the right side of the field, crossed the goalmouth and nudged a shot past Ruhno with 5:06 left in the half with an assist from Mia Ulmer.

            The Tribe had dominated the first quarter in territorial play, drawing seven corners—14 for the game–but did not get many shots off in the circle.

            In the week between its loss to Methacton in the PAC tournament and Tuesday night's game, Upper Perk worked on passing and on drawing fouls. "I think they did pretty well," Griffin noted. "We had a lot of corners. We're going to have to start executing on them a little sooner."

            In the third quarter, Shanahan applied its best pressure of the game and capitalized with a fluky goal on the Eagles first corner of the night.

            Initially Upper Perk goalie Ava Hengeveld made a difficult save but Ella Ouimet corralled the rebound and rolled the ball across the front of the cage where it hit a defender. The ball was deflected back to Ouimet who deposited the ball behind Hengeveld.

            The score seemed to motivate Upper Perk. "That goal really fixed us as a team and we worked really well together," said sophomore Landrey DeLillo.

            In the fourth quarter, Shanahan began to show the effects of being on the defensive for most of the game and allowed Julia Traynor to get behind the defense and tip in a hard shot by Mia Schneider with 11:31 left in the contest.

            A few minutes later DeLillo put the game out of reach by ripping a shot past Ruhno after assists by Gahman and Makayla Marshall for the 4-1 final.

            Griffin lauded DeLillo, who was feeling ill the last two days. "She still played her absolute best." 

            The coach also had high praise for the team as a whole. "I think the fourth quarter is probably the best quarter we've played so far this season in terms of what we needed to do and possessing the ball."

            In addition to skills and strategy, the team had also worked on team building in the week leading up to the District playoffs.

            DeLillo mentioned that the team did some "bonding to get us back together as a team", including after-practice runs and positive notes to teammates.

            "I think it just brought us together as a team," Gahman said.

           The Eagles (6-10-1), from the Ches-Mont League, were the 12th seed in the tournament.

            On Thursday at 3:30, Upper Perk, the number five seed, will travel to number four seed Gwynedd Mercy for a second-round game. Gwynedd defeated Merion Mercy, 4-0, on Tuesday. 

            "They are very determined to make it far this season," Griffin said of her team,  "and they have a lot of drive, and they're really looking forward to going as far as they can."